Zachary: Two Years Old!

It is so hard to believe that my little boy is two years old! Thanks to babycenter.com, they certainly know how to pull at a momma's heartstrings. When he was a baby, I would get email updates saying, "your baby is ___ old." When he was one, those emails changed to "your toddler is _____ old." Well they did it again this year. On his second birthday, I got an email saying, "your PRESCHOOLER is 2 years old!" Preschooler? No! I don't like/ I'm not ready for that term yet, so we are going to stick to toddler. Thank. you. very. much, baby center.

It really is amazing though to see how much Zach has changed over the course of the year. I look back at pictures from a year ago, and he seems like such a different little person to me! In the past year, he learned to walk, which quickly went to running, jumping, climbing and being quite the on-the-go little boy. His vocabulary and speech has really taken off. He is learning and growing so much each day, that it is fun to see what he remembers and what he picks up on. He is quite the determined, persistent, strong-willed child that does know how to test his parents quite regularly. But, we are praying for wisdom and are seeking the Lord's help to raise him in a godly, obedient way. 

Eating
Oh, eating. I don't know where to begin with you. Zach seems to go in different spurts of being a good eater, to being a picky eater who doesn't want to eat anything. When he is a good eater, he has started to expand his likes a little and will now eat peanut butter, including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (cut out with a cookie cutter- usually the shape of an ice cream cone). He also has started liking some deli meats, ham seems to be his favorite, and he likes to eat those on a toothpick, which we call a ham-pop or ham kabob. Cheese is still a favorite. Fruits are probably his favorite (healthy) food. He gobbles up just about any fruit: apples, bananas (which he likes to peel himself), grapes, oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, applesauce (with sprinkles in it). He also seems to like most vegetables. Corn on the cob is his absolute favorite, but also likes broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, tomatoes. He has become more independent with his food and wants to do a lot of things on his own and wants food the way it comes. He doesn't like it too much if you try to cut his bread or mix something together. He has to do it all on his own.


Sleep
Zach officially made the transition to his new big boy room and big boy car bed on April 3rd, just two weeks before his second birthday. The first night, the plan was for Justin to stay in his room until he fell asleep. Well after 45 minutes of him being so rowdy and not falling asleep, dad left the room and Zach ended up falling asleep a few minutes later. For the most part, the transition to the big boy bed was pretty easy! He goes down for his naps and at nighttime with not too much problem most of the nights. Sometimes, he would get out of his bed, turn on the light and open his door. But after going in there and telling him it was time to sleep, a maximum of 2-3 times, he would listen and obey and go to sleep. Some nights he did wake up in the middle of the night and Justin would go in there to help soothe him, but lately he has been sleeping through the night. He goes to bed at 8:00 and usually wakes up between 6:00 and 7:00. If he sleeps past 7:00, I usually think something is wrong and have to check on him. Our early riser has continued to be our early riser.

He takes one nap a day at 1:00 and sleeps on average 2-2 1/2 hours. Mondays are my current headache because the neighborhood landscapers always come during his nap time and wake him up. Naps are very precious to this little boys nighttime mood and mommy's sanity. He does seem to be kind of a light sleeper.

Zach still sleeps with his pacifier. Boy, this little boy LOVES his paci. He use to have 4 of them, sprinkled in his crib, that way he could find them in the middle of the night. He would fall asleep holding one in each hand and one in his mouth. The past few months we have gradually taken/thrown them away. He is now down to only one pacifier and only gets it for naps and bedtime. Sometimes during the day he specifically says, "night night" just so he can get his pacifier. Now that he is two years old, we are getting ready and planning to take away that last one. We have not committed yet to when that is going to happen. We wanted him to be fully established in his new bed before we took it away. To be honest, I think getting rid of the paci is going to be a lot harder than leaving the crib.

**We got rid of the pacifier on March 15th. We didn't exactly plan to get rid of it then, it really just fell in our laps. One night during the week I noticed that he had chewed two holes in his last remaining paci. I pointed it out to Justin and he was trying to signal to me to not make a big deal about it. Zach caught on and kept saying, "Mom, chew it!" "Fix it!" I told him I couldn't fix it. He would then say, "Hammer, fix it!" "Screwdriver, fix it!" The night we ended up giving him his little play hammer and screwdriver just so he would see that those actually wouldn't fix it. I told him he could pray and ask Jesus to fix it. We realized that this was it and we had to get rid of it. He had the paci for two more nights, but it really lost its 'power/suction' and wasn't doing too much for him. Naps had  been a little rocky. So on Friday night, he said he wanted to trade in his paci for lollipops and Joe-Joe ice cream. Justin took him to Trader Joe's. Before they entered the store, he threw his beloved paci into the trash can there and picked out his lollipops and ice cream. That night we let him just take his time with his bedtime routine. He would ask for his "ya- ya" which we reminded him that he threw it away. We actually had really busy nights/days the next few days and he either took naps in the car or fell asleep in the car coming home for bedtime. It ended up being a whole lot smoother transition than we thought. He asked for his "ya-ya" for maybe three days. Some days for naps or at night I would rub his forehead to sleep. After 5 days or a week he officially stopped asking for it and was weaned from the paci.

Play
Zach is a non-stop, on the go little boy. Now that it is nicer weather, he loves being outside. When outside, he likes to play at his water table, draw with sidewalk chalk, go to the playground, and his newest interest- bugs. He looks for ants, spiders, wadybugs, fwies. He loves water and can't get enough of it this year. He likes playing at his kiddie pool at Nana and Pa's, going to the 'beach' and splash pads. Although he is a little more timid at the splash pads this year and doesn't go charging through them like he did last year.

Zach is a boy with many interests. He likes crafts, painting being his favorite. You can tell he is a teacher's kid because whenever I let him paint, he always ends up painting his hand or asks for his foot to be painted. Can you tell we do lots of hand print/ foot print crafts? ;) He likes play doh and shaving cream. We discovered these Usborne sticker books that have different themes and you place stickers on specific pictures. He LOVES them. It is a nice quiet activity for us to do together. He likes music and enjoys playing his recorder, xylophone, drums, drum set, and listening/ dancing to music. He is also a lover or sports and will put on his train hat, say, "hey batter batter!" and hit his baseball off the tee, then run around the table and say, "homerun!" He plays basketball, kicks his soccer ball at the park and likes watching baseball with daddy on tv. For Christmas he got a train table and likes to play at that often. He loves to cook and bake. Nana got him a little apron and he likes to put that on, pull up a chair to the counter, get out a spoon and help me cook. I like having him involved in the kitchen and he likes sampling everything. He also likes to cut up his pretend fruits and vegetables. He has started doing more imaginative play and playing more independently on his own.

He got his first tv show addiction with Paw Patrol and got several of the pup toys for his birthday and likes playing with those. He likes to go on different outings. His Nana and Pa moved about 30 minutes from us and he is always asking to go to Nana and Pa's! He likes going to indoor play places like Kid's Up and Catch Air. Sundays are a favorite day for him, going to church, especially Sunday School. He has special outings with dad to the library and to Starbucks where they sit outside and drink their frappuccinos together.

Favorites:
Item: Pacifier
Book: "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" "If you give a Mouse a Cookie"
TV Show: Paw Patrol
Song: Touch your Finger to your Nose (he calls it "Love You" song), Ba Ba Black Sheep 
Food: Joe Joe Ice Cream 
Place: Catch Air, Nana and Pa's House

Dislikes: Being forced to try new things, being contained, sitting still for more than 30 seconds, lawn mowers, weed whackers (any form of lawn equipment).

Speech
His speech has really started to take off. I am amazed at how the last few weeks the pronunciation of some of his words has become a lot more clear. He is also a little sponge with this speech and soaks in new words all the time. It seems like everyday he is picking up a new vocabulary word. He is also able to say 3 syllable words pretty clearly: mosquito bite, breakable, watermelon, applesauce, weed whacker, lawn mower. He can string words into 3-4 word sentences. Examples include: Mom outside pweeeease, more watermelon please. I have found that I am able to communicate with him in a back and forth conversation.
Z: Spider
Mom: Where is the spider. Right here? [Pointing to the door.]
Z: No right here.
Mom: I don't see it
Z: Spider bye bye

He is also retaining and storing new words really quickly without much explanation at all. One of our favorites: We were walking to the mailbox and he was in the grass. I very nonchalantly said, "Watch out for dog poop." Not making big deal out of it at all. Now, whenever he sees anything brown, he points and says, "Dog poop." Nope, we have to keep correcting him. Another example is with the warmer weather he have had more mosquitoes around our house and sometimes they get in. Whenever he seems me quickly clap at something in the air, he says, "Mosquito bite."  

His memory is also getting a lot better and he is remembering things that we did weeks ago. He is also remembering things that I tell him in advance, such as where we are going, or what we are going to eat. One example is that we were driving to a store and I told him that this store he had to ride in the shopping cart but that he could have a lollipop while he rode in the shopping cart. Once we got in the store and up in the cart, he said, "Lollipop please!" 

Size
Weight 28 lbs. (58th percentile)
Height: 37 inches (96th percentile)
Diapers: Size 4/5
Clothing: Bottoms 2T- 3T (he needs 3T for the length, but since he is thin, he can still fit in 18-24 month shorts or 2T pants). Tops: 3T. Pajamas: 3T
Shoe: Size 8
Nicknames: Zachy, Zachy Doodle, Doodle Bug, Doodle Noodle

Milestones
Became a BIG BROTHER: 1.03.15
Moved into big boy room/ bed: 4.03.15
Weaned from pacifier: 5.15.15
Count from 1-10+ (after 10 is a little iffy)
Spell his name: Z-A-C-H
Identify colors
Identify shapes: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, heart
Identify some letters/ sing the alphabet

A Note from Mom
My little, Zach-a-doodle. I look at you and I am just so amazed at how much you have grown in two years. You went from being a sweet, energetic baby, to a sweet, silly and super energetic toddler. I look at you and I am amazed at how you can eat a whole meal by yourself, carry on a conversation, remember things that happened a couple weeks ago, count to 10, identify shapes around you, and colors, go on Starbucks dates with your dad and order frappuccinos, and so much more. You are such a great older brother to James. You are so overjoyed that he is a part of your life and are so excited to see him each morning. You give him about a 100 kisses a day and are always in his personal space that I feel like I am prying you away so many times throughout the day. You are so sweet to him, always including him in what you are doing and sharing your toys with him. He loves you so much. You are one of the only people who he genuinely gives a big smile to and will make him belly laugh. I look forward to seeing how your relationship grows as you two get older.

You are entering a very autonomous state and are wanting to do everything by yourself, "Zach do it!" you say! You are strong willed and are quite the leader. There are some days where you really know how to push my buttons and give me a run for my money, but I am giving it to the Lord and asking for His help and wisdom in raising and guiding you. I love how we have started to read the Bible together in the morning and have little Bible lessons and crafts together. I love how when we start off by praying and putting on our spiritual armor, you put yours on as well, and if James is awake, you help put his on too. I love to see things click for you and how you can basically recite Genesis 1:1 all by yourself and you can identify things that God made. I pray that you will grow to be a man of God and that you will serve Him all the days of your life. You are such a gift from Him and we are so thankful for you. We love you Zach.   

Two Year Pictures

 loves taking pictures with his brother!

 

 Zach how old are you?

  And of course we ended our fun photo shoot with this. He tripped and fell on the sidewalk and busted his lip open. Go figure this was the one time that I did not pack any wipes or his water because it was a short trip 2 minutes from home. I ended up using a diaper to clean up the blood until we got home. Poor guy. But he survived. Such is the life with an active (clumsy) boy!